Iko Iko
by thewanderingactuary
Summary: He was dead, that much was sure. So how the hell is Robb Stark lying on the shores of the Trident? And who killed all the Freys? (Starts at the beginning of season 7) [First story in the Skeleton Man Trilogy]


Welcome everyone, to _Iko Iko_! Before we get started, a few things:

A/N: I own nothing

A/N 2: This is my first GoT story, so please go easy on me if I screw up some piece of continuity from the show.

Okay, enough of this. Let's begin!

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 **Chapter 1 – Cryptical Envelopment**

 _ **At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow  
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise  
From death, you numberless infinities  
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go**_

 **John Dorne**

 _ **He who has the luck to be born as a character can laugh even at death. He cannot die.**_ **\- Luigi Pirandello**

The man who was once called The King of the North woke up on the shores of the Trident, wondering how the hell he got there. The last thing that Robb Stark could remember was being stabbed, so he was really confused on how he got here. But he knew that now was not the time to dwell too hard on that, given his current situation: He was right now stuck in an unfamiliar place with no horse, no sword, and (by appearances) no Grey Wind. Robb knew that he was exposed; he had to move and get somewhere safe (wherever that was). As he moved away from the river and into the woods, he went over what he could remember: They were at the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey, when the two were removed from the room for the bedding ceremony and the doors were locked. Then the bards began to play "The Rains of Castemere", and that's when all hell broke loose. His mother had yelled at him to look out, while Lothar Frey had stabbed Talisa and their child repeatedly. He had tried to draw his sword, but was shot with a crossbow. And finally, ignoring his mother's protestations and threats, Roose Bolton stabbed him, saying that "The Lannisters send their regards". That memory led him to check his chest, to see the wound on his chest and see how bad it was. Oddly enough, there was no wound there. In fact, now that he thought about it, there were no wounds anywhere on his body, leaving him very confused.

Suddenly, the sound of hoofbeats rapidly approached him, and before Robb could react, he was cornered by two mounted men with spears. To Robb's dismay, they bore the livery of House Frey. One man brought his spear up to Robb's neck and barked at him "Who are you?"

"I'm N-Ned. Ned Snow" Robb stuttered out, giving them the first name he could think of.

"Snow?" the man replied. "You don't look like no northerner to me. Who's your father?"

"No idea" Robb said, his brain scrambling to come up with a cover story to prevent them from figuring out who he was. "My mother always said that my father was some northern lord, but she would never tell me who he was. She was always a bit off, if you ask me."

The man squinted at him, his face riddled with skepticism. "Say, _Ned_ , what do you for I'm a living?"

"I…I'm a fisherman. I fell out of my boat, and was washed ashore. That's why I'm soaking wet."

The man with the spear began to laugh. "I've got to be honest Ned, you're the worst liar I've ever seen. You're far better dressed than any fisherman than I've ever met, and your clothing has a fucking direwolf stitched onto it."

Robb silently cursed as he realized that he was wearing the same outfit that he was wearing at the wedding. As he was trying to come up with an explanation, the man's companion moved his horse towards and said, "Hey Petyr, I think that's Robb Star!"

The man named Petyr gave his companion a look of disbelief. "Robb Stark? Are you even stupider than you appear Lother? Robb Stark is dead, you know that as well as I do!"

"But I know that's him! I saw at the Red Wedding, I shot him with a crossbow myself!"

"Wow, you actually believe that! I always thought that was a drunken boast you'd use to convince some bar-hag to fuck you."

Lother gave a snort. "Fine, how about we take him to Lord Frey? He'll back me on this."

"Fine. Whoever this cunt is, Lord Frey will be interested in him. And we're late for the feast as it is."

And with that, they bound an increasingly panicking Robb Stark with some rope that Petyr had, and set out for the Twins.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Robb had figured out a plan of getting out away from the Freys. He would claim that he got his clothing off a Stark bannerman who had been killed during the war, that he was heading towards White Harbor with the intention of heading towards Essos. Hopefully, Walder Frey would buy that story, and he wouldn't get killed. After that, he had no real idea what he was going to do. The best idea he had was to go up to the Wall, get his half-brother Jon, and figure out what he was going to do from there.

All that planning proved to be for naught, however, as Lother and Petyr dragged him into the great hall and were greeted by a mass of corpses. All of them had fallen dead in their seats, each with blood coming out of their mouth. Only one person seemed be alive amongst the pile of dead men: A woman who Robb recognized as Kitty Frey, who was sitting at the head table shaking.

"Lady Frey! What's happened?" Petyr shouted, as he and Lother abandoned Robb and ran to their mistress.

"T-Tell them-m that the N-North re-remembers" she said in a voice laced with trauma. "T-Tell them that w-winter c-came for House F-Frey."

Having forced those words out, she looked up and looked straight at Robb. Horror seemed to come across her face, before she suddenly fainted. Lother and Petyr turned to face Robb, and looks of horrors graced their face as well. However, they were looking _past_ Robb before they collapsed, blood spilling out of their mouth. Suddenly, a voice spoke from behind him, saying "I know the amount of dead bodies is staggering, but this still isn't the worst feast I've ever attended."

Robb turned to see a man that had definitely not been there before. He wore a long black coat, a wide brimmed felt hat of the same color, a sword on his hip, and what appeared to be a staff on his back. But it was the mask that truly caught Robb's attention. It was carved (or molded, Robb couldn't tell what material it was made of) to resemble a skull; the color of the mask was the same deep black that defined the rest of the man's clothing, save the bridge, which was a violent shade of red. This strange man seemed to give an air of aloofness, but every instinct in Robb's body told him that this man was extremely dangerous.

"Relax" the man said, waving his hand nonchalantly. In an instant, the ropes that had bound Robb fell, as if they had been cut by a sharp sword with one stroke. "I think it's pretty clear that if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

"Did you do this?" Robb asked, stunned by the appearance of this man.

"No," the masked man replied. "This act of …vengeance was done by the Faceless Wolf, indecisive whether to return home or to continue settling her scores."

"W-Who are you?" Robb stuttered, still trying to get his head around about this sudden shift in events.

The man in the skull mask gave a small chuckle. "I'm called the Skelton Man" he responded, "and I serve those who brought you back."

"Who would that be?" Robb asked, still confused.

"Isn't it obvious? _The gods_." The room seemed to suddenly grow darker as the Skeleton Man put emphasis on those final words.

"Which gods?"

"Does it matter? Gods are gods, no matter what you call them or where they come from."

"Alright," Robb said, thinking fast, " _Why_ did the gods bring me back?"

"Finally, a useful question" the Skelton Man said, getting up from the bench. Now that he was standing up, Robb could see how tall he was; the Skeleton man had at least two to three inches on him. "There is a threat descending from the North, and it has been decided that you are…needed to help combat it."

Robb closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He then reopened them, his eyes full of determination. "What must I do?"

"You will go to Winterfell, to the King in the North. Yes," the Skeleton man, noting the surprise on Robb's face, "there is a new King in the North. You are not to take your old title back; he is better prepared for the fight that comes. Listen to him, for he knows your enemy."

Robb nodded, knowing that the Skeleton Man (and through him, the gods) would not tell him such things without good reason. "Now, the original plan was to have you make your own way back to Winterfell. However, as your presence here demonstrates, that may more difficult than we thought. So, I'll get you there much more quickly. And remember one thing more," the Skeleton Man said with what sounded like a smirk, "you'll wake up this time."

And with that, he punched Robb in the face, who fell to the ground out cold.

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...And that's where I'll leave it for now.

Questions? Comments? Insidious Remarks? Leave a review!


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